Offside (General Discussion)

Jessica Gonzalez said:Dancing with fools—Maja Šokot looks pretty rough here. I guess if she sat down next to me without any makeup on, I might end up even more traumatized than I am after watching these clips from Mexico.

If you’re talking about that unnatural look, that happened a long time ago. She looks just like a plastic doll.

Is anyone else getting sick of this constant setup for a Ukrainian defeat?
Everyone reading between the lines is already talking about 10 million refugees.
Now there's all this talk about the renewed Russian buildup from the East.
What’s next—are the Chuvash, Nenets, Khanty, and Samoyeds going to charge in on snowmobiles and spears?
Today, some "expert" claims the Russians will seize everything within the next 15 days.
That Ukraine is just stuck holding onto Lviv.
And then they have the nerve to tell themselves—honestly, it's laughable—that Russia lacks the resources to field more than 300,000 troops for an offensive.
Can we please get some consistency? After 32 years of analyzing Russia, can we decide once and for all if they actually have the manpower and resources to take the East, the South, and central Ukraine?
The endless back-and-forth—either Ukraine is going to fall or it won't—is exhausting.
And those vultures in the West who think Ukrainians are just going to swoop in and fix their problems so they don't have to lift a finger or step up—they are dead wrong.
At the end of the day, Ukrainians are an ancient nation, just like any other in Europe.

Kyle Campbell4 said:Fan violence is basically a walk in the park compared to places like Juarez or Tijuana and those other cartel-controlled wasteland regions. Out there, they actually murder their drug rivals and hang bodies from bridges just to send a message to everyone else. It’s a tradition that’s been going on since the early 90s.

Well, that's exactly what I'm getting at—for them, there isn't much distinction between a movie scene and real life.
Most of these fans are either part of the cartels themselves or look up to them, which explains why they act the way they do. It's not just happening at football stadiums, either; it's everywhere, and honestly, it's a pattern you see across almost all of South America, not just in Mexico.
Take what happened recently in Paraguay—right in the middle of a concert, a young woman and mother of two was shot to death in a VIP box. It was all because her father is the investigator handling a major cartel case.

Who actually knows where this war is headed?

It’s not like we have some crystal ball to see exactly how things play out in Ukraine. Every single outcome is still on the table... nothing is set in stone. And honestly—what does "winning" even mean to you? Like, does Russia even have the resources to hold down a massive country like Ukraine if they actually manage to win militarily?

Beating someone in a fight is one thing—keeping them under your thumb in an occupation is a whole different beast entirely.

Jessica Gonzalez said:Dancing with fools—Maja Šokot looks pretty rough here. I guess if she sat down next to me without any makeup on, I might end up even more traumatized than I am after watching these clips from Mexico.

That whole show has been a complete train wreck ever since she left the big networks.

William Gomez5 said:That whole show has been a complete train wreck ever since she left the big networks.

Honestly, I didn't even realize that garbage wasn't airing on the main channel anymore
It’s basically just a reality show for retirees—and without any actual stars, there's zero

Matthew Collins20 said:1. **Bold:** That stuff from a few months back? There was that rumor about them accidentally getting shot down by Mexicans during a military exercise, which honestly... 🤣
If we're talking about something new, it'll come to light because you can't really hide this kind of thing. There are plenty of aviation enthusiasts watching every single move, and they'd definitely notice if a plane went missing. Romania doesn't have thousands of planes; they have about 40.

2. **Bold:** How did they enter Canada? Through Western Ukraine? That sounds like a fairy tale.

They violated Swedish airspace a couple of days ago by flying over some small island, but they've done that before. Besides, Sweden isn't in NATO yet, so people feel bolder flying over them. When they first flew over Turkey, Erdogan shot one down the very next day.

How would a regular American soldier even know things like that? It seems more likely that a soldier willing to gossip like that isn't exactly high up in the chain of command and wouldn't be anywhere near the sensitive data, let alone talking about it out loud...

Man, he can see everything happening over Europe right on his radar, and you're asking how he'd know. Sure, he probably doesn't know the top-secret stuff reserved for high-ranking officers, but they get regular briefings where they receive reports and projections. All member militaries are on standby. He didn't say a war is definitely coming; he just said things are getting dangerously heated and all options are on the table.

Kyle Campbell4 said:But you have to admit, Sicario is absolutely killer. Especially that dark soundtrack playing while they roll into Juarez and you see people hanging from the bridges.🙏

Get this—a friend of my wife knows this guy whose husband (he's from Chicago, by the way) deals in metals and ores. Like, serious third-world stuff... where does he even find that?
So, I’m telling her about it, and she mentions they actually took a trip to Mexico together once. They did the whole thing—sent the package first, then headed out for vacation. Their flight was delayed, so they showed up pretty late, but no big deal, right? They figured the car would be waiting for them. They leave the airport, everything seems fine, and then suddenly the driver veers off onto some dirt road. Turns out, he wanted to meet up with a relative in another car so they could just swap rides—because apparently, since it was getting late, he just wanted to head home. Seriously? 😁

So, what would you even do if you found yourself in that spot? It’s middle of the night, some random stretch of asphalt in Mexico—total nightmare fuel. She’s basically telling you she’s lost it, spiraling into this hysterical panic where it feels like everything's about to go south—like she's facing assault, or worse, being killed and dumped in the desert. If they actually make it out okay, honestly, that's all anyone can hope for.

Regarding that Swedish airspace situation—this guy is saying it’s just routine whenever they fly over toward Kaliningrad. Apparently, it's been happening like this both today and for the last "5 years." Same old story, right?

Well, damn it.🤣🤣 Honestly, I’m starting to think this is a full-blown kidnapping, and I’ll probably end up getting hunted down and torn to pieces.🤣

William Gomez5 said:That whole show has been a complete train wreck ever since she left the big networks.

The old programming on the national broadcaster was sterile—it felt like it was designed specifically for retirees.
With this new setup, they’ve actually stepped things up a few levels, making it something even a broader audience might actually want to tune into.

Thomas Hayes said:Honestly, I didn't even realize that garbage wasn't airing on the main channel anymore
It’s basically just a reality show for retirees—and without any actual stars, there's zero

I guess Mišo was right—that show should probably be called Dancing with Regular People instead of Dancing with the Stars😁

Charles Ramos4 said:I guess Mišo was right—that show should probably be called Dancing with Regular People instead of Dancing with the Stars😁

I mean, sure, that logic totally works in the US or the UK where there’s a massive, endless stream of celebrities—but over here? You’ll run out of actual superstars in maybe two seasons, and then you're just left watching Lucija Lugomer and Vlatka Pokos. 🤦

I don't really get this spread on Forex between the Euro and the Dollar against the Ruble.

USD/RUB 103.73 - 107.27
EUR/RUB 112.74 - 138.94

Why is there such a massive gap with the Euro compared to the Dollar? There’s zero logic here... right?

So, does anyone know if the Moscow Exchange is actually going to be open tomorrow?

Larry Fox5 said:I don't really get this spread on Forex between the Euro and the Dollar against the Ruble.

USD/RUB 103.73 - 107.27
EUR/RUB 112.74 - 138.94

Why is there such a massive gap with the Euro compared to the Dollar? There’s zero logic here... right?

The spread is huge. That tells me there isn't much trading happening—low liquidity and high volatility.

Larry Fox5 said:I don't really get this spread on Forex between the Euro and the Dollar against the Ruble.

USD/RUB 103.73 - 107.27
EUR/RUB 112.74 - 138.94

Why is there such a massive gap with the Euro compared to the Dollar? There’s zero logic here... right?

A huge bid-ask spread on FX usually means there's massive volatility happening or just a serious lack of liquidity in the market. I haven't really dug into the history of this specific situation, but those European banking and financial sanctions definitely had to have a major impact on liquidity. Whether that's the one and only reason for such an anomaly... I guess I don't know.

mellowotter36 said:The spread is huge. That tells me there isn't much trading happening—low liquidity and high volatility.

He beat me to it, 😬

edit: I think I used the word "huge" three times in my first post, kind of sounding like Petrak over at Podcast Incubator 🙏

steelharbor9 said:A huge bid-ask spread on FX usually means there's massive volatility happening or just a serious lack of liquidity in the market. I haven't really dug into the history of this specific situation, but those European banking and financial sanctions definitely had to have a major impact on liquidity. Whether that's the one and only reason for such an anomaly... I guess I don't know.

He beat me to it, 😬

edit: I think I used the word "huge" three times in my first post, kind of sounding like Petrak over at Podcast Incubator 🙏

You’re looking pretty suspicious whenever you start dropping all those Russianisms. ☕

I suppose I’ll step into the role of Petrak here and pretend I’m an expert on a subject I clearly know nothing about, though I don't think that was actually what he was getting at. It seems his real curiosity lies in why the spread on one currency pair ends up being wider than another.

Jonathan Barnes5 said:I suppose I’ll step into the role of Petrak here and pretend I’m an expert on a subject I clearly know nothing about, though I don't think that was actually what he was getting at. It seems his real curiosity lies in why the spread on one currency pair ends up being wider than another.

I totally got what he was asking, which is why I mentioned I haven't dug into the specifics. Honestly, I have no clue what the exact sanctions look like regarding the Dollar on the American financial market, or how those volumes stack up against the Euro. What I wrote there was just a sort of plug&play answer for situations like this—you know, if anyone wants a starting point, there it is. But in all of this, nothing feels truly normal, I guess. 😁 If there’s some massive, hidden reason why the difference is that huge, I wouldn't know; I pretty much left the whole Forex game behind a long time ago. 🕺

Or, as William Gomez5 would say, I'm just acting smart about something I don't understand at all! ☕